Method and device for the production of a wire rope



I Oct. 10,1967 E WlESNAGROTZKl ETAL 0 METHOD AND DEVICE FOR THE PRODUCTION OF A WIRE ROPE Filed Feb. 24, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Oct- 10, 1957' E. WIESNAGROTZKI ETAL 3,

METHOD AND DEVICE FOR THE PRODUCTION OF A WIRE ROPE 2 sheets-sheet 2 Filed Feb. 24, 1965 United States Patent Office 3,345,810 Patented Oct. 10, 1967 The invention relates to a method and deviec for the production of a wire rope of small section consisting of steel wires. Such wire ropes are particularly 'used as inserts for vehicle tires and also for armoring other rubber products. The wire ropes consist of several steel wires with a diameter of about 0.15 to 0.4 mm. (0.005906 to 0.015748"). The finished wire rope has a diameter of about 0.5 to 1.2 mm. (0.019685 to 0.0586").

Such wire ropes must meet the requirements that they will not spring open at the cutting points or spring open only to a small extent. The wire ropes are furthermore not to be treated during their manufacturing by lubricating means inorder to obtain a sure connection with the rubber or the like. An essential presupposition for the usefulness of such a wire rope is particularly that the wire rope does not present any undulations, but is absolutely striaght in its tension-free state.

Up to now the production of these wire ropes was carried out on stranding machines in which wire spools are fixed in a rotating basket. The wire rope is pulled off in the axis of the basket. The ratio of the delivery speed to the number of revolutions of the basket determines the length of twist (pit-ch) which is generally about 5 to 15 mm. (0.19685 to 0.59055).

The production of a wire rope of the described type 'by means of stranding machines is not satisfactory. Because of the relatively large rotating masses, the number of revolutions and thus the speed of delivery is limited. On the other hand, the investment expenses and the space required for such stranding machines are considerable. The machines also require a considerable amount of handling by operators.

It is the purpose of the invention to provide a method and a device for the production of a wire rope of small section consisting of steel wires which give a considerably higher output than the known methods and devices.

The method according to the invention is characterized by the use of a wing or fly twister machine with positivelydi-rven wing or flyer and positively driven supply or feed mechanism rotating together with the flyer, whereby the radius of curvature of the guides for the twisted wire rope are at least so large that merely elastic deformations are imparted to the wire rope by the guide.

Wing or fly twister machines have been used up to now merely for working textile materials as e.g. hemp, sisal, nylon or the like. The drive of the wing or flyer and of the supply or feed mechanism of the wing twisting machines takes place in general by means of belts which are easily sufiicient for transmitting the necessary forces in the case of textile material.

The attempt to use a wing twisting machine of usual design for the production of a wire rope consistin of steel wires does not lead to a satisfactory result. In a wing twisting machine the thread or the wire rope respectively must be deviated, i.e. bent several times because of the special design of these machines. The single filamentsof a thread run axially into the flyer or wing in which separately driven feed or supply mechanism is arranged. The yarn is rotated during this running-in and finally the thread is several times guided around the supply mechanism in order to guarantee that it is surely taken along. Thereafter the thread is guided on the outer periphery of the wing beside the spool and is passed from the wing to the spool moving to and fro in axial direction, while the spool is braked and is taken along by the wing by means of the thread given out.

It has been found that the wing twisting machines working perfectly in the manufacturing of thread fail in the manufacturing of steel wire ropes because it is not possible to obtain by their means a wire rope without undulations or kinks. Besides, the generally used fly twisting machines do not give a uniform length of twist of the wire ropes.

It has been found that the use of a wing or fly twisting machine gives good results if care is taken that the radii of curvature of the guides for the twisted wire rope are at least large enough in order to give to the wire rope merely elastic deformations by the guides. Besides it is necessary to drive positively the wing and also the supply mechanism rotating together with the wing, which can be reached, e.g. by a gear wheel drive.

The positive drive known per se of wing and supply mechanisms leads first to the result that the adjusted and desired length of twist always is exactly maintained in spite of the higher forces necessary when producing a wire rope. The design according to the invention of the guides of the twisted wire rope prevents an undulation of the wire rope with the result that a straight product without any undulations is obtained in spite of the multiple deviations of the rope within the flyer which is inevitable with wing or fly twisting machines.

An essential advantage of the method according to the invention consists in the fact that the rotating masses are relatively small so that it is posisble to work with very high speed. Neither the supply spools for the steel wires nor the receiving spool for the wire rope are driven. These spools rotate merely around their own axes outside of the wing or flyer cage.

A further advantage of the method according to the invention is that any lubricating means are avoided which would be applied to the steel wires or to the wire rope and which must possibly be eliminated afterwards by complicated treatments. It has been found, furthermore, that sharp deviations of the single steel wires are unimportant for the final result. Shar-p deviations of the incoming steel wires lead in fact to an undulation of the steel wires, but they do not lead to an undulation of the finished wire rope. The twisting imparted to the wire rope prevents obviously any effect of an undulation of the single steel wires on the finished product.

It is known that the wire rope is imparted first a twisting in the one direction, i.e. e.g. an S-twisting, which twisting leads to a permanent as well as to an elastic torsion deformation of the wire rope and to eliminate thereafter the elastic torsion deformation by a partial untwisting, i.e. a Z-twisting. By this measure the finished wire rope doesnot spring open at the spots where it is cut. If the untwisting is not sufiicient or if it is too important, the rope will spring open to a small extent.

In the known machines these two twistings are imparted to the wire rope in one single operation. When using a flyer type twisting. machine of the cited type it would, indeed, be possible to impart to the wire rope the two twistings in one single operation. But this would lead to a complication in the design of the machine and the invention therefore proposes that in the method according to the invention the wire rope is wound on a spool after its twisting and is guided once more through a wing or fly twisting machine in order to be untwisted. In the practical use of the invention, the untWisting can take place in a second operation in the same machine and several machines for the initial twisting are coordinated with one single machine for the untwisting. As it is an essential feature of the method according to the invention that the capacity of the machine is determined merely by the very high number of revolutions of the wing or flyer, while the untwisting takes place with a considerably lower number of revolutions than the initial twisting, the passage speed for untwisting can be essentially higher with the result that a machine for untwisting has a multiple capacity of a machine for the initial twisting and thus the additional expense for untwisting is relatively low. The device according to the invention for carrying out the above-described method is characterized according to a further feature of the invention essentially by the fact that the axles of the supply or feed mechanism consisting of two rollers are arranged at right angles to the axis of the wing or flyer.

In the known wing twisting machines as they are used for working textile materials the axes of the supply mechanism are arranged parallel to the axis of the wing. This arrangement facilitates the introduction of the drive for the supply mechanism into the wing. But this arrangement leads also to a sharp deviation of the axially incoming thread into the supply mechanism. As the arrangement of radii of curvature of wire guiding in the sense of the invention causes diificulties in this connection and leads particularly to an increase of the wing diameter which would again diminish the number of revolutions of the wing, the invention proposes a rectangular arrangement of the axes of the supply or feed mechanism to the axis of the wing. It is particularly favorable if the tangential point of initial contact of the wire rope with the receiving roller of the supply or feed mechanism is arranged at least nearly in the axis of rotation of the wing. Thereby each deviation of the incoming wire rope in front of the supply mechanism can be completely excluded. The radius of curvature for the wire rope is then determined by the diameter of the rollers of the supply mechanism.

It is, furthermore, very advantageous if the two rolls of the supply mechanism are arranged at the side of each other with a small distance.

According to a further feature of the invention a deviating roll for the wire rope is arranged on the wing which deviating roll passes the wire rope to the spool. This deviating roll prevents an excessive bending of the wire rope in the moment of its passing onto the roll, which could lead to the undesirable undulation.

The invention provides finally to arrange two deviating rolls on the wing, i.e. one deviating roll for the initial twisting and one deviating roll for the untwisting. In this manner the wing twisting machine is equipped for the initial twisting as well as for the untwisting, as the alineation of the deviating roll for passing onto the spool is determined according to the rotating direction of the wing.

In the drawing an embodiment of the invention is shown diagrammatically.

FIG. 1 is a vertical section through the upper part of a machine according to the invention,

FIG. 2 is a plan view on a detail of the drawing of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a view of the lower part of the machine adjacent to the drawing of FIG. 1, and

FIG. 4 is a plan view on a detail of the drawing of FIG. 3, respectively a partial section through the representation of FIG. 3 corresponding to the section line IV-IV.

From the supply spools for the steel wires which are not shown but could be as disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 3,091,074, dated May 26, 1963, the steel wires 2 go to a deviating bar 1 and from here to an annular register plate 3 (FIG. 2) which leads the steel wires by means of opening 4 in a centrally symmetrical arrangement to a pressing sleeve 5. The pressing sleeve or throat 5 consists essentially of a channel which is conically enlarged on the inlet side. The pressing sleeve 5 has on the one hand the task to bring together the steel wires and shall, on the other hand, hold fast the wires by friction for the following twisting.

From the pressing sleeve 5 the steel wire bundle 6 passes into a tube 7. This tube is arranged in the interior of a shaft 8 which is driven by means of a worm wheel 9 and a worm shaft 10. A bevel gear 11 for the drive of the supply mechanism is mounted on the lower extremity of the shaft 8.

The shaft 8 is surrounded partially by a further hollow shaft 12 which is likewise provided with a worm wheel 13 driven by a further worm shaft 14. The shaft 12 carries a plate 15 which is part of the wing. The gear mechanism consisting of the parts 9, 10, 14 and 13 is arranged in a gear box 16 and it is clear that by the worm shafts 10 and 14 further worm wheels with shafts may be driven which are arranged in an offset manner in the axial direction of the worm shafts. Thus a machine may have a multitude of wings or flyers.

As is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 a bearing block 34 is fastened to the plate 15 by screws or the like which bearing block carries the three shafts with axes 17, 18 and 19'; the shaft of the axis 18 is provided with a worm wheel 20 cooperating with the bevel gear 11. The shaft of the axis 18 has furthermore a spur gear 21 cooperating with spur gears 22 and 23 which are arranged on the shafts of the axes 17 and 19. On the shafts of the axes 17 and 19 there are furthermore mounted rolls 24 and 25 provided with grooves 26, and which rolls form the supply mechanism.

The steel wire bundle 6 running in the tube 7 (FIG. 1) is twisted in the range between the pressing sleeve 5 and the supply mechanism to form a wire rope and is received by the roll 25 of the supply mechanism. The wire rope 35 is guided several times around the rolls 24 and 25 and is then passed from the roll 24 to a deviating roll 27 passing the wire rope to a spool 28. This spool 28 is carried rotatably on frame 30 and the axial direction of the spool 28 coincides with the axial direction of the shafts 8 and 12. Within the frame 30 a brake (not shown) for braking the rotational movements of the spool 28 is arranged, which rotational movements are determined by the difference between the supply speed of the supply mechanism 24, 25 and the speed of the wing. The frame 30 moves upward and downward in the direction of the arrows 29, so that the wire rope is uniformly distributed over the full width of the spool.

The deviating roll 27 is arranged on the lower end of 'a rod-shaped wing 31 which is fastened on the plate 15. The wing 32 has a further deviating roll 33.

The mode of operation of the machine is as follows: between the stationary pressing sleeve 5 and the point of initial contact on the roll 25 the wire rope is given the desired rotation which is determined by the ratio of the rotational speed of the wing or fiyer (plate 15 and wings 31, 32) to the rotational speed of the rolls 24 and 25 of the supply mechanism. The several turns around the rolls of the supply mechanism assures a perfect taking-along of the wire rope. The single grooves 26 of the supply mechanism may be provided with increasing diameter. It has been found that with wire ropes of about 6 single wires of usual quality and of a thickness of the single steel wire of about 0.5 mm. (0.019685") a diameter of the rolls 24 and 25 of about 4 inches brings the desired results. Wire ropes which are to a small extent elastically deformable require correspondingly larger diameters for the rolls 24 and 25.

The deviating rolls 27 and 33 respectively may be dimensioned without any disadvantage with a somewhat smaller diameter than the rolls 24 and 25, which is obviously caused by the fact that the permanent torsion deformation imparted to the single steel wires by the rotation leads to a certain increase of the elasticity limit and to the fact that the tension strain superimposing itself to th bending strain is possibly lower within the range of t e deviating roll than within the range of the supply mechanism. When the wire is guided over roll 33, the wing is driven in the reverse direction. This reversal results in a reversed rotation of rolls 24 and 25 of the supply mechanism.

The wire rope wound on the spool 28 is only provided with an initial twisting. The wire rope of the full spool is then guided once more through a similar machine, but in such a way that now the deviating roller 33 gives the wire rope to the winding spool. The speed of the supply mechanism is accordingly adjusted essentially higher in order to untwist only part of the initial twist.

The small distance of the two rolls 24 and 25 of the supply mechanism and their symmetrical arrangement to the rotational axis of the wing consisting of the parts 15, 31 and 32 facilitates on the one hand the use of the same machine for the initial twisting and the untwisting, and it must be added that, for untwisting, the wire rope running through the tube 7 runs onto the roll 24 in order to reach the deviating roll 33. The small distance of the rolls and the thus caused small diameter of the wing is, on the other hand, in cooperation with the other features of the invention a presupposition for a high wing-speed and thus for the output of the machine.

We claim:

1. A method of producing wire rope having a diameter of from about 0.5 mm. to 1.2 mm. from a plurality of individual steel wire strands each having a diameter of from about 0.15 mm. to 0.4 mm. comprising disposing a plurality of individual wires for free movement, guiding said individual Wires together to form a cluster of such wires, twisting such cluster of wire strands to form a rope by exerting a pulling force thereon extending axially of such cluster and simultaneously guiding said rope over at least one arcuate surface having a diameter suificiently large as to bend said rope within the limits of elastic deformation thereof but to prevent establishing a permanent kink in such rope, said pulling force and guiding being accomplished by rotating said surface on its own axis and about the axis in which said force is exerted, passing said rope over a further arcuate surface also having a diameter commensurate with the diameter of said first surface such as to also prevent establishing a permanent kink in such rope, exerting a second pulling force on such rope extending axially thereof while simultaneously guiding the same over another arcuate surface also commensurate in diameter with the previously mentioned arcuate surfaces while rotating said another surface on its own axis and about the axis in which said second force is exerted in a direction opposite to that which twisted said wire strands to form such rope so as to partially untwist such rope, passing such partially untwisted rope over an additional arcuate surface also having a diameter commensurate with the diameters of the other arcuate surfaces and spooling said partially untwisted rope.

2. An apparatus for forming a wire rope from a plurality of individual wire strands each having diameters of from about 0.15 mm. to 0.4 mm., including means for guiding such plurality of strands to form a cluster of such strands, a rotatable quill through which said cluster passes, gear means for directly rotating such quill, such quill having an outlet end, a gear on such outlet end, further gears disposed in laterally spaced relation and each meshing with said first mentioned gear, rollers driven by said further gears for rotation about axes perpendicular to the axis of said quill, such rollers having grooves therein, a cage carrying such rollers, means for rotating such cage about the axis of such quill, said cage including columns in laterally spaced relation, roller means on each column, and all said roller means having diameters sui'ficiently large so that when said strands are pulled through the quill responsive to rotation of said first mentioned roller means and twisted by reason of the rotation of such cage such wire rope in passing over all said roller means is maintained within the limits of elastic deformation thereof whereby permanent kinks are not established in such rope.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2 in which said first mentioned gear is a beveled gear, worm gear means constituting the means for directly rotating such quill and additional worm gear means constituting the means for rotating such cage, said worm gear means being disposed in axially aligned relation and a housing accommodating all such worm gear means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,966,423 7/1934 Damon 5768 X 2,015,128 9/1935 Ruf 5768 2,484,179 10/1949 MacCreadie 57--68 3,091,074 5/1963 Demmel 5768 X F-RANK I. COHEN, Primary Examiner.

W. S BURDEN, Assistant Examiner, 

2. AN APPARATUS FOR FORMING A WIIRE ROPE FROM A PLURALITY OF INDIVIDUAL WIRE STRANDS EACH HAVING DIAMETERS OF FROM ABOUT 0.15 MM. TO 0.4 MM., INCLUDING MEANS FOR GUIDING SUCH PLURALITY OF STRANDS TO FORM A CLUSTER OF SUCH STRANDS, A ROTATABLE QUILL THROUGH WHICH SAID CLUSTER PASSES, GEAR MEANS FOR DIRECTLY ROTATING SUCH QUILL, SUCH QUILL HAVING AN OUTLET END, A GEAR ON SUCH OUTLET END, FURTHER GEARS DISPOSED IN LATERALLY SPACED RELATION AND EACH MESHING WITH SAID FIRST MENTIONED GEAR, ROLLERS DRIVEN BY SAID FURTHER GEARS FOR ROTATION ABOUT AXES PERPENDICULAR TO THE AXIS OF SAID QUILL, SUCH ROLLERS HAVING GROOVES THEREIN, A CAGE CARRYING SUCH ROLLERS, MEANS FOR ROTATING SUCH CAGE ABOUT THE AXIS OF SUCH QUILL, SAID CAGE INCLUDING COLUMNS IN LATERALLY SPACED RELATION, ROLLER MEANS ON EACH COLUMN, AND ALL SAID ROLLER MEANS HAVING DIAMETERS SUFFICIENTLY LARGE SO THAT WHEN SAID STRANDS ARE PULLED THROUGH THE QUILL RESPONSIVE TO ROTATION OF SAID FIRST MENTIONED ROLLER MEANS AND TWISTED BY REASON OF THE ROTATION OF SUCH CAGE SUCH WIRE ROPE IN PASSING OVER ALL SAID ROLLER MEANS IS MAINTAINED WITHIN THE LIMITS OF ELASTIC DEFORMATION THEREOF WHEREBY PERMANENT KINKS ARE NOT ESTABLISHED IN SUCH ROPE. 